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Press Releases for Kids With Food Allergies Foundation
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May 2012 Kids With Food Allergies Foundation Launches iPhone AppNation’s Largest Online Support Community App Is Like Having An “Advocate or Coach In Your Pocket 24/7”  The new app will connect families raising children with food allergies to the foundation's award-winning online support community. Doylestown, PA (PRWEB) May 10, 2012 
Just in time for Food Allergy Awareness Week (FAAW), Kids With Food Allergies Foundation (KFA) announces an iPhone app for mobile access to its award-winning online community, http://www.kidswithfoodallergies.org. The app is available now for download for free on iOS devices in the iTunes store and an Android version is expected by year’s end. Kids With Food Allergies Foundation (KFA) is a national charity dedicated to keeping children safe and healthy by educating and supporting families utilizing its online forums, which promote peer-to-peer and critical day-to-day support. The organization's web site also features educational materials that have been created or reviewed by its distinguished medical advisory team. While FAAW is May 13-19, for the 25,000 KFA members in the US and around the world, every single day is another chapter in the life of living and coping with the triumphs and challenges of this disease, which calls for strict management of avoidance of allergens. KFA hopes to reach more families of the six million children who have been diagnosed with food allergies with its mobile application, especially families struggling economically who may have cut Internet access at home or can’t afford household computers. Surveys done over the past year, such as by the Pew Internet and American Life Project in 2011, or by Nielsen earlier this year, show smartphone use is growing among low-income populations. “Many of our families have to juggle the cost of allergen-free food, medical nutritional formulas, rising cost of health insurance, prescriptions and doctor’s visits along with other household expenses,” said Lynda Mitchell, President of KFA. In addition, she said, many turn to KFA for help and advice with the logistical issues that coincide with living in the “real world” with severe, multiple food allergies such as dealing with relatives, enrolling their child into schools and camps. “The most important work we do is to help all families keep their children safe. We help them understand how to prevent an allergic reaction and what to do should a life threatening reaction occur. Having instant access to KFA when you are in a doctor’s waiting room or researching groceries at the supermarket is like having an online advocate and coach in your pocket or purse with you 24/7,” said Mitchell, herself the mother of a college student with food allergies. About the Kids With Food Allergies Foundation (KFA) Kids With Food Allergies Foundation Wins About.com 2012 Readers' Choice Award for Best Online Food Allergy SupportThe Foundation Offers the Nation's Largest Online Support Community for Families Raising Children with Food Allergies DOYLESTOWN, Pa., April 3, 2012 /PRNewswire-iReach/ -- Kids With Food Allergies Foundation (KFA), a national charity dedicated to keeping children with food allergies healthy and safe by educating and supporting their families, today announced that it has been selected as the About.com 2012 Readers' Choice Award winner for best online food allergy support. Now in its fifth year, the About.com Readers' Choice Awards honor the best products, features and services across more than a dozen categories, ranging from technology to hobbies to parenting and more, as selected by its readers. "This year's Readers' Choice Awards program had a record number of nominations submitted across dozens of categories and featured hundreds of finalists," said Margot Weiss, managing editor, About.com. "We are thankful to all our readers for their participation and congratulate Kids With Food Allergies Foundation on their success." "Kids With Food Allergies Foundation's flagship program is our online support community," says Lynda Mitchell, President of the Foundation. "The About.com Reader's Choice Awards gave our online supporters, as well as their friends and family, an opportunity to cast votes to select KFA as the best organization for online food allergy support. We are very grateful to our supporters as well as to About.com for awarding us with this recognition." To view the Best Online Food Allergy Support Website award and all award winners, please visit http://awards.about.com. About the Kids With Food Allergies Foundation (KFA) About The About Group The New York Times Company, a leading global, multimedia news and information company with 2011 revenues of $2.3 billion, includes The New York Times, the International Herald Tribune, The Boston Globe, NYTimes.com, BostonGlobe.com, Boston.com, About.com and related properties. The Company's core purpose is to enhance society by creating, collecting and distributing high-quality news, information and entertainment. February 2012 Grey’s Anatomy Highlights Peanut Allergy ReactionStatement by the Kids With Food Allergies Foundation and Matthew Greenhawt, M.D., M.B.A., F.A.A.P. DOYLESTOWN, Pa., Feb. 13, 2012 /PRNewswire-iReach/ -- This statement is in response to the February 9th episode of Grey’s Anatomy which featured a storyline regarding a young child suffering a peanut allergy reaction from an accidental ingestion. With millions of children now affected by food allergy, and peanut allergy affecting 1-2% of all children, food allergy reactions are an important topic to feature in a prime time series to raise awareness about this serious issue. We applaud the shows’ producers for featuring such a timely and relevant topic of high importance to the food allergic community, and appreciate how realistic the scene was in demonstrating the severity of an anaphylactic reaction. In Grey’s dramatization of a peanut-induced allergic reaction, a little girl presented with difficulty breathing and a rash, consistent with anaphylactic shock after accidentally ingesting a peanut candy offered by her boyfriend. The portrayal provides a good opportunity for learning for both food allergic and non-food allergic families. The following are key points to clarify based on the portrayal of a peanut-induced allergic reaction in school: • Children with food allergies should not accept or be offered foods without verifying that the ingredients are safe. No one wants to purposely give a potentially deadly allergen to another child. Unfortunately, such accidents happen commonly. Tragically, the recent death of a 7 year old girl in Virginia eerily resembles this scenario, but with a much worse outcome. • Don’t place blame – instead reach out and educate the entire school community about the need to keep children with food allergies safe in the school setting. We need to work together as a community to help everyone understand the risks of food allergy to affected children. As adults, we need to set positive examples for our children in understanding our perspectives, while at the same time, finding ways to effectively manage food allergies in the school setting. • Epinephrine is the first line of treatment for a severe allergic reaction known as anaphylaxis. The severity of the reaction in the scene, which resulted in the girl being intubated because she could not breathe despite treatment represents a rare but possible outcome. Most anaphylactic reactions, if appropriately treated, do not progress to requiring intubation. In such situations, where there is a witnessed or highly suspected allergic reaction resulting in multiple organ involvement (skin and respiratory in this case), epinephrine is the primary treatment of choice. Antihistamines are only to be used as a primary treatment when the reaction is milder, such as having only hives or other skin rashes, and isolated swelling of a body part not affecting the ability to breathe. Asthma medications such as albuterol are never first line agents for treatment of an allergic reaction—if respiratory symptoms are involved, epinephrine becomes the first line treatment. However, the fact that the girl in the scene did not immediately receive epinephrine is a very realistic mistake that occurs frequently, and should serve to highlight the fact that further community awareness is needed to teach people how to recognize and appropriately treat an allergic reaction. If you are a parent of a food allergic child, talk with your child about not sharing food, and continue to work with the school to make sure there is an emergency action plan and an epinephrine device available in case of emergency. If you are the parent of a child without a food allergy, talk to your child about the dangers that a food allergy can pose. Chances are at least one child in your child’s class has a food allergy. Teach them to have empathy for these children, to not share food with them, and, most importantly, to be their friend. Helping food allergic children at school is a shared responsibility. About the Kids With Food Allergies Foundation (KFA) Founded in 2005 as a charity, KFA is a growing national nonprofit organization of 28,000 individuals, families and businesses. KFA’s program offerings are focused on educating families and communities about practical food allergy management to save children’s lives and improve the quality of life for children and their families. Its interactive website provides a powerhouse of resources, including the nation's largest online support community offering moral support, information sharing and food/cooking support; quality education materials edited by a multidisciplinary medical advisory team; and an online collection of 1,200 "allergy-friendly" recipes. The recent, unprecedented rise in food allergies has spurred the organization's rapid growth. To find out more, go to: http://www.kidswithfoodallergies.org . About Matthew Greenhawt, M.D., M.B.A. Dr. Matthew Greenhawt, MD, MBA, is a board certified Pediatrician and Allergist, and is an Assistant Professor in the Division of Allergy and Clinical Immunology at the University of Michigan Medical School and University of Michigan Health System. He specializes in research and treatment of food allergy and eosinophilic esophagitis and is a member of the medical advisory board for Kids With Food Allergies Foundation. CONTACT: Lynda Mitchell, 215-230-5394,
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Page last updated 07/06/2012
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